Aleister
Crowley
A beginners guide to Aleister Crowley Books
The following consists of the definitive definition
and exposition of the term 'Magick' as it is used in a modern
context by contemporary occultists. Magick is an ambigious
term and any attempt at defining it is often directly dependent
upon the context of its use. In the following article, Crowley
breaks the term down into its primary ideas, sucessfully comminicating
the essence of Magick otherwise veiled beneath a multitude
of differing definitions.
I) DEFINITION.
Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to
occur in conformity with Will.
(Illustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain
facts within my knowledge. I therefore take "magickal weapons", pen, ink, and paper; I write "incantations"---these
sentences---in the "magickal language" ie, that which is understood
by the people I wish to instruct; I call forth "spirits", such as
printers, publishers, booksellers and so forth and constrain them to convey my
message to those people. The composition and distribution of this book is thus
an act of Magick by which I cause Changes to take place in conformity with my
Will.)
In one sense Magick may be defined as the name given to Science by the vulgar.
II) POSTULATE.
ANY required change may be effected by the application of the proper
kind and degree of Force in the proper manner, through the proper medium to the
proper object.
(Illustration: I wish to prepare an ounce of Chloride of Gold. I must take the
right kind of acid, nitro-hydrochloric and no other, in a vessel which will not
break, leak or corrode, in such a manner as will not produce undesirable results,
with the necessary quantity of Gold: and so forth. Every change has its own conditions.
In the present state of our knowledge and power some changes are not possible
in practice; we cannot cause eclipses, for instance, or transform lead into tin,
or create men from mushrooms. But it is theoretically possible to cause in any
object any change of which that object is capable by nature; and the conditions
are covered by the above postulate.)
III) THEOREMS.
1) Every intentional act is a Magickal act.
(Illustration: See "Definition" above.)
By "intentional" I mean "willed". But
even unintentional acts so seeming are not truly so. Thus, breathing
is an act of the Will to Live.
2) Every successful act has conformed to the postulate.
3) Every failure proves that one or more requirements of the postulate
have not been fulfilled.
(Illustrations: There may be failure to understand the case, as when a doctor
makes a wrong diagnosis, and his treatment injures the patient. There may be
a failure to apply the right kind of force, as when a rustic tries to blow out
an electric light. There may be failure to apply the right degree of force, as
when a wrestler has his hold broken, There may be failure to apply the force
in the right manner, as when one presents a cheque at the wrong window of the
Bank. There may be failure to employ the correct medium, as when Leonardo da
Vinci saw his masterpiece fade away. The force may be applied to an unsuitable
object, as when one tries to crack a stone, thinking it a nut.)
4) The first requisite for causing any change is thorough qualitative
and quantitative understanding of the conditions.
(Illustration: The most common cause of failure in life is ignorance
of one's own True Will, or of the means to fulfill that Will. A man may
fancy himself a painter, and waste his life trying to become one; or
he may really be a painter, and yet fail to understand and to measure
the difficulties peculiar to that career.)
5) The second requisite of causing any change is the practical
ability to set in right motion the necessary forces.
(Illustration: A banker may have a perfect grasp of a given situation, yet lack
the quality of decision, or the assets, necessary to take advantage of it.)
6) "Every man and every woman is a star".
That is to say, every human being is intrinsically an independent individual
with his own proper character and proper motion.
7) Every man and every woman has a course, depending partly on
the self, and partly on the environment which is natural and necessary
for each. Anyone who is forced from his own course, either through not
understanding himself, or through external opposition, comes into conflict
with the order of the Universe, and suffers accordingly.
(Illustration: A man may think it is his duty to act in a certain
way, through having made a fancy picture of himself, instead of investigating
his actual nature. For example, a woman may make herself miserable for
life by thinking that she prefers love to social consideration, or vice
versa. One woman may stay with an unsympathetic husband when she would
really be happy in an attic with a lover, while another may fool herself
into a romantic elopement when her only pleasures are those of presiding
over fashionable functions. Again, a boy's instinct may tell him to go
to sea, while his parents insist on his becoming a doctor. In such a
case he will be both unsuccessful and unhappy in medicine.)
8) A Man whose conscious will is at odds with his True Will
is wasting his strength. He cannot hope to influence his environment
efficiently.
(Illustration: When Civil War rages in a nation, it is in no condition to undertake
the invasion of other countries. A man with cancer employs his nourishment alike
to his own use and to that of the enemy which is part of himself. He soon fails
to resist the pressure of his environment. In practical life, a man who is doing
what his conscience tells him to be wrong will do it very clumsily. At first!)
9) A Man who is doing his True Will has the inertia of the Universe
to assist him.
(Illustration: The first principle of success in evolution is that the individual
should be true to his own nature, and at the same time adapt himself to his environment.)
10) Nature is a continuous phenomenon, though we may not know
in all cases how things are connected.
(Illustration: Human comsciousness depends on the properties of protoplasm, the
existence of which depends on innumerable physical conditions peculiar to this
planet; and this planet is determined by the mechanical balance of the whole
universe of matter. We may then say that our consciousness is causally connected
with the remotest galaxies; yet we do not even know how it arises from--or with--the
molecular changes in the brain.)
11) Science enables us to take advantage of the continuity of
Nature by the empirical application of certain principles whose interplay
involves different orders of idea connected with each other in a way
beyond our present comprehension.
(Illustration: We are able to light cities by rule-of-thumb
methods. We do not know what consciousness is, or how it is connected
with muscular action; what electricity is or how it is connected with
the machines that generate it; and our methods depend on calculations
involving mathematical ideas which have no correspondance in the Universe
as we know it.)
For instance "irrational", "unreal" and "infinite" expressions.
12) Man is ignorant of the nature of his own being and
powers. Even his idea of his limitations is based on experience of
the past, and every step in his progress extends his empire. There
is therefore no reason to assign theoretical limitsto
what he may be, or what he may do.
(Illustration: A generation ago it was supposed theoretically impossible that
man should ever know the composition of the fixed stars. It is known that our
senses are adapted to receive only a fraction of the possible rates of vibration.Modern
instruments have enabled us to detect some of these supra-sensibles by indirect
methods, and even to use their peculiar qualities in the service of man, as in
the case of the rays of Hertz and Roentgen. As Tyndall said, man might at any
moment learn to percieve and utilize vibrations of all concievable and inconcievable
kinds. The question of Magick is a question of discovering and employing hitherto
unknown forces in nature. We know that they exist, and we cannot doubt the possibility
of mental or physical instruments capable of bringing us into relation with them.)
13) Every man is more or less aware that his individuality comprises
several orders of existence, even when he maintains that his subtler
principles are merely symptomatic of the changes in his gross vehicle.
A similar order may be assumed to extend throughout nature.
(Illustration: One does not confuse the pain of a toothache with the decay that
causes it. Inanimate objects are sensitive to certain physical forces, such as
electrical and thermal conductivity; but neither in us nor in them--so far as
we know--is there any direct conscious perception of these forces. Imperceptible
influences are therefore associated with all material phenomena; and there is
no reason why we should not work upon matter through these subtle energies as
we do through their material bases. In fact, we use magnetic force to move iron
and solar radiation to reproduce images.)
14) Man is capable of being, and using, anything which he perceives,
for everything which he perceives is in a certain sense a part of his
being. He may thus subjugate the whole of the Universe of which he is
conscious to his individual Will.
(Illustration: Man has used the idea of God to dictate his personal
conduct, to obtain power over his fellows, to excuse his crimes, and
for innumerable other purposes, including that of realizing himself as
God. He has used the irrational and unreal conceptions of mathematics
to help him in the construction of mechanical devices. He has used his
moral force to influence the actions even of wild animals. He has employed
poetic genius for political purposes.)
15) Every force in the Universe is capable of being transformed
into any other kind of force by using suitable means. There is thus
an inexhaustible supply of any particular kind of force that we may
need.
(Illustration: Heat may be transformed into light and power by using it to drive
dynamos. The vibrations of the air may be used to kill men by so ordering them
in speech so as to inflame war-like passions. The hallucinations connected with
the mysterious energies of sex result in the perpetuation of the species.)
16) The application of any given force affects all the orders
of being which exist in the object in the object to which it is applied,
whichever of of those orders is directly affected.
(Illustration: If I strike a man with a dagger, his consciousness, not his body
only, is affected by my act, although the dagger, as such, has no direct relation
therewith. Similarly, the power of my thought may so work on the mind of another
person as to produce far-reaching physical changes in him, or in others through
him.)
17) A man may learn to use any force so as to serve any purpose,
by taking advantage of the above theorems.
(Illustration: A man may use a razor to make himself vigilant over his speech,
by using it to cut himself whenever he ungaurdedly utters a chosen word. He may
serve the same purpose by resolving that every incident of his life shall remind
him of a particular thing, making every impression the starting point of a connected
series of thoughts ending in that thing. He might also devote his whole energies
to some one particular object, by resolving to do nothing at variance therewith,
and to make every act turn to the advantage of that object.)
18) He may attract to himself any force of the Universe by making
himself a fit receptacle for it, and arranging conditions so that its
nature compels it to flow toward him.
(Illustration: If I want pure water to drink, I dig a well in a place where there
is underground water; I prevent it from leaking away; and I arrange to take advantage
of water's accordance with the laws of Hydrostatics to fill it.)
19) Man's sense of himself as seperate from, and opposed to,
the Universe is a bar to his conducting its currents. It insulates him.
Illustration: A popular leader is most successful when he forgets
himself and remembers only "The Cause". Self-seeking engenders
jealousies and schism. When the organs of the body assert their presence
other by silent satisfaction, it is a sign they are diseased. The single
exception is the organ of reproduction. Yet even in this case its self-assertion
bears witness to its dissatisfaction with itself, since it cannot fulfil
its function until completed by its counterpart in another organism.)
20) Man can only attract and employ the forces for which he
is really fitted.
(Illustration: You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's
ear. A true man of science learns from every phenomeneon. But Nature
is dumb to the hypocrite; for in her there is nothing false.)
It is no objection that the hypocrite is himself part of Nature.
He is an "endothermic" product, divided against himself,
with a tendency to break up. He will see his own qualities everywhere,
and thus obtain a radical misconception of phenomena. Most religions
of the past have failed by expecting nature to conform with their ideals
of proper conduct.
21) There is no limit to the extent of the relations of
any man with the Universe in essence; for as soon as man makes himself
one with any idea the means of measurement cease to exist. But his
power to utilize that force is limited by his mental power and capacity,
and by the circumstances of his human environment.
(Illustration: When a man falls in love, the whole world becomes,
to him, nothing but love boundless and immanent; but his mystical state
is not contagious; his fellow-men are either amused or annoyed. He
can only extend to others the effect which his love has had upon himself
by means of his mental and physical qualities. Thus Catullus, Dante
and Swinburne made their love a mighty mover of mankind by virtue of
their power to put their thoughts on the subject in musical and eloquent
language. Again, Cleopatra and other people in authority moulded the
fortunes of many other people by allowing love to influence their political
actions. The Magician, however well he succeed in making contact with
the secret sources of energy in nature, can only use them to the extent
permitted by his intellectual and moral qualities. Mohammed's intercourse
with Gabriel was only effective because of his statesmanship, soldiership,
and the sublimity of his command of Arabic. Hertz's discovery of the
rays which we now use for wireless telegraphy was sterile until it
reflected through the minds and wills of the people who could take
his truth and transmit it to the world of action by means of mechanical
and economic instruments.)
22) Every individual is essentially sufficient to himself.
But he is unsatisfactory to himself until he has established himself
in his right relation with the universe.
(Illustration: A microscope, however perfect, is useless
in the hands of savages. A poet, however sublime, must impose himself
upon his generation if he is to enjoy (and even to understand) himself,
as theoretically should be the case.)
23) Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and one's
conditions. It is the Art of applying that understanding in action.
(Illustration: A golf club is intended to move a special ball
in a special way in special circumstances. A Niblick should rarely
be used on the tee or a brassie under the bank of a bunker. But also,
the use of any club demands skill and experience.)
24) Every man has an indefeasible right to be what he is.
(Illustration: To insist that any one else should comply with
one's own standards is to outrage, not only him, but oneself, since
both parties are equally born of necessity.)
25) Every man must do Magick each time he acts or even thinks,
since a thought is an internal act whose influence ultimately affects
action, though it may not do so at the time.
(Illustration: The least gesture causes a change in a man's own body and in the
air around him; it disturbs the balance of the entire Universe, and its effects
continue eternally throughout all space. Every thought, however swiftly suppressed,
has its effect on the mind. It stands as one of the causes of every subsequent
thought, and tends to influence every subsequent action. A golfer may lose a
few yards on his drive, a few more with his second and third, he may lie on the
green six bare inches too far from the hole, but the net result of these trifling
mishaps is the difference between halving and losing the hole.)
26) Every man has a right, the right of self preservation, to
fulfill himself to the utmost.
Men of "criminal nature" are simply at issue with their
true Wills. The murderer has the Will to Live; and his will to murder
is a false will at variance with his true Will, since he risks death
at the hands of Society by obeying his criminal impulse.
(Illustration: A function imperfectly performed injures, not only
itself, but everything associated with it. If the heart is afraid to
beat for fear of disturbing the liver, the liver is starved for blood
and avenges itself on the heart by upsetting digestion, which disorders
respiration, on which cardiac welfare depends.)
27) Every man should make Magick the keystone of his life.
He should learn its laws and live by them.
(Illustration: The Banker should discover the real meaning of his existence,
the real motive which led him to choose that profession. He should under-stand
banking as a necessary factor in the economic existence of mankind instead of
merely a business whose objects are independant of the general welfare. He should
learn to distinguish false values from real, and to act not on accidental fluctuations
but on considerations of essential importance. Such a banker will prove himself
superior to others; because he will not be an individual limited by transitory
things, but a force of Nature, as impersonal, impartial and eternal as gravitation,
as patient and irresistable as the tides. His system will not be subject to panic,
any more than the law of Inverse Squares is disturbed by elections. He will not
be anxious about his affairs because they will not be his; and for that reason
he will be able to direct them with the calm, clear-headed confidence of an onlooker,
with intelligence unclouded by self-interest, and power unimpaired by passion.)
28) Every man has a right to fulfill his own will without being
afraid that it may interfere with that of others; for if he is in his
proper place, it is the fault of others if they interfere with him.
(Illustration: If a man like Napoleon were actually appointed
by destiny to control Europe, he should not be blamed for exercising
his rights. To oppose him would be an error. Any one so doing would have
made a mistake as to his own destiny, except insofar as it mught be necessary
for him to learn the lessons of defeat. The sun moves in space without
interference. the order of nature provides an orbit for each star. A
clash proves that one or the other has strayed from its course. But as
to each man that keeps his true course, the more firmly he acts, the
less likely others are to get in his way. His example will helpthem to
find their own paths and pursue them. Every man that becomes a Magician
helps others to do likewise. The more firmly and surely men move, and
the more such action is accepted as the standard of morality, the less
will conflict and confusion hamper humanity.)
More Articles On Magick (different Author)
Magick
1 - Why Magick?
Magick
2 - Subjective Experience
Magick
3 - The Four Worlds
Magick
4 - The Four Elements
Magick
5 - Chakras Meditation
Magick
6 - Thought Forms & Spirits
Magick
7 - Basic Ritual
Magick
8 - Healing & Banishing Rituals
Magick
9 - Astral Projection
Magick
10 - Cabala
Magick
11 - Psychic Energy |
